CHAPTER XLIX

REPRESENTATION OF THE CROSS IN THE PALACE, AND OF DANIEL AT THE PUBLIC FOUNTAINS

ON the other hand one might see the fountains in the midst of the forum graced with figures representing the good Shepherd (well known to those who study the sacred oracles), and that of Daniel also with the lions, forged in brass, and resplendent with plates of gold. Indeed, so large a measure of Divine love possessed the emperor’s soul, that in the principal apartment of the imperial palace itself, on a vast tablet displayed in the centre of its gilded ceiling, he caused the symbol of our Saviour’s Passion to be fixed, composed of a variety of precious stones richly inwrought with gold: and this symbol the pious prince seemed to have intended to be as it were the safeguard of the empire itself.